TOURISM IN MEXICO CITY REJOICES OVER GROWING NUMBERS

Tourism in Mexico City is an important source of revenue for the municipal budget. The economic impact of the arrival of 8.6 million domestic and foreign tourists who stayed in hotels from January to August was 53 billion pesos. This represents an increase of 16% over the same period in 2015, as reported by Miguel Torruco, the city’s Tourism Secretary.

The official said that out of the 8.6 million tourists who arrived in the city, 6.7 million were locals and 1.9 million foreign visitors. It should be noted that foreign arrivals increased by 6.3% over the first eight months of last year. In addition, the hotel occupancy also showed an increase.

The Tourism Secretary stated that the growth of tourism in Mexico City is due to promotional campaigns such as "Enjoy Mexico City," which focuses on increasing the domestic tourism, especially on weekends and long weekends; "My Roots" targeting Mexican Americans living in the US, and "Operation Knock on Doors," which involves visits to the main source markets to promote the natural, historical and cultural wealth of Mexico.

As for international tourist arrivals at the Mexico City International Airport (AICM), the Centre for Migration Studies in the Migration Policy Unit of the Ministry of the Interior reported a volume of 2.5 million passengers, up 16% over the same period in 2015 and the highest since 2007.

Torruco said that the biggest source markets for tourism in Mexico City are the United States, with 1 million tourists; Colombia with 165,000; Spain, with 125,000; Argentina, with 119,000; Brazil, with 111,000; Canada, with 91,000; Peru, with 80,000; France with 79,000 and Germany with 67,000 visitors.

In the first eight months of the year, Mexico City’s tourism sector again passed the one million jobs mark, reaching 1.138 million.